A Living Nightmare - (MCSM FANFIC - Collab with eternal-eloquence) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 8 - A Horrific Experience

Chapter written by FanfictionalWarrior
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Lukas barely had a chance to process what had happened, crashing straight into a wall. He flopped down on the ground, the whole world around him tilting and spinning in a way that made it practically impossible to tell where was up and where was down. Lukas squeezed his eyes shut, before blinking them open again and repeating the process a few times in an attempt to clear his vision.

As everything slowly began to steady, the question of what the hell had happened began to swirl through his head. He couldn't see much other than... orange. Shades of orange, brown and grey were bleeding together in a foggy manner.

That's when Lukas realised he was in fact staring up at the sky.

Shaking his head to himself, Lukas dizzily propped himself up on his one arm. He blinked a few times, still not quite sure what he was seeing. Everything was still a bit fuzzy, but he could make out tall obsidian walls that stretched up into fiery, orange heavens. The ground was a mixture of dirt and a strange, coarse stone.

Lukas frowned as he stared down at the stone. Almost completely black, flecked with grey... it looked an awful lot like bedrock, which he's never seen up close before.

Where the hell was he?

The sound of footsteps made Lukas stiffen, his head shooting up. While he couldn't see the person from where he was lying, he could hear them approaching. Eyes darting around anxiously, he used to obsidian wall he had crashed into as a prop, hauling himself up to his feet. The world only swayed slightly before finally stabilizing.

Lukas was barely standing, when the person came into view. They weren't facing him, their eyes fixed on the ground, darting between the patches of bedrock in what appeared to be confusion. Despite the fearful expression plastered on their face and the over-sized prison uniform on their petite form, Lukas instantly recognised the waterfall of black hair and emerald colour irises.

"Jesse?" He gasped.

Her head snapped up, eyes widening at the sight of him. Relief washed over Jesse's expression as her face lit up. She practically bolted forward, sprinting up to Lukas and throwing her arms around his neck. Ignoring the few billion questions that were waiting on the tip of his tongue, Lukas hugged Jesse back tightly.

"I was so worried about you!" She gasped when they pulled away from each other. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're okay!"

"What do you mean?" Lukas asked her, a frown etching itself on his forehead. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Jesse responded, wrapping her arms around herself. Worry was pooling in her green eyes. "The Admin sent me here after he put the gauntlet on Petra."

Lukas's mouth opened, but his voice caught in his throat before he could say anything. His thoughts were beginning to race around his head, a million questions jumbling around inside his brain as he began to realise exactly where he was and what was happening.

No, it couldn't be! Petra's theory couldn't possible be correct could it? Of course not, that was absurd! But how else...?

"Lukas?" Jesse asked him, tilting her head slightly to the side. "You with me?"

"Y-yeah, sorry..." Lukas snapped himself out of his daze, shaking his head slightly.

Jesse continued talking, gesturing down the patch she had been following. He heard her say something about an orange line, but Lukas wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around what was happening.

"I don't where we are, or what kind of place this is." Jesse was saying, absent-mindedly chewing on her bottom lip. "I was hoping that by obeying their orders and following this line would get me some answers."